Fund houses increase on-ground investor outreach as mutual fund industry scales up

As of December 2025, SIP assets rose to Rs 16.63 lakh crore, accounting for 20.7 percent of the industry’s total AUM. Participation from smaller towns has also increased steadily, with over 27 percent of retail mutual fund assets coming from B30 locations in November 2025.

• HDFC AMC held 79 street plays in 7 cities to boost investor education
• Franklin Templeton India launched a 4,000 km campaign for financial literacy
• Mutual fund AUM rose 20 percent in 2025, driven by SIPs and retail participation

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As India’s mutual fund industry continues to see strong asset growth and retail participation, fund houses are increasing on-ground investor education initiatives to promote long-term investing and expand awareness beyond large urban centres.

HDFC Asset Management Company, investment manager to HDFC Mutual Fund, recently completed the on-ground leg of its investor education initiative ‘Barni Se Azadi’ with 79 Nukkad Natak performances across seven cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Surat, Lucknow, Baroda and Jaipur. The performances, which began in December 2025, were staged in public spaces such as markets, residential areas and community hubs.

The initiative focused on encouraging individuals, particularly women, to move beyond traditional saving practices and take informed steps towards long-term financial security. Through culturally familiar storytelling, the street plays addressed topics such as savings, investing, financial independence and the benefits of Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), including disciplined investing, suitability for long-term wealth creation and reduced dependence on market timing. The 79 performances were conducted to mark India’s 79th year of Independence.

“Financial awareness has the power to change not just individual lives, but entire communities,” Navneet Munot, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HDFC Asset Management Company, said in a release.

Franklin Templeton India has also launched a nationwide investor education campaign titled ‘Change the Soch – Kanyakumari to Kashmir Drive’, aimed at improving financial literacy and mutual fund awareness across the country. The initiative marks the fund house’s 30 years of operations in India. As part of the campaign, Avinash Satwalekar, President – Franklin Templeton India, is undertaking a 30-day road journey of over 4,000 km, starting from Kanyakumari and concluding in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, covering 21 cities along the way. The campaign includes interactive investor education sessions with participants from diverse backgrounds, including farmers, self-help groups, students, educators, entrepreneurs, government and private sector employees, and defence personnel.

The sessions focus on basic financial planning concepts, encouraging a shift from savings to investments, and building long-term wealth through mutual funds, with a particular emphasis on empowering women to take informed financial decisions.

“Financial literacy among women is fundamental to India’s long-term socio-economic progress,” Satwalekar said in a release.

These fund house-led initiatives come at a time when the domestic mutual fund industry is witnessing strong growth. Industry assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 80.23 lakh crore in December 2025, up nearly 20 percent year-on-year. Over the past five years, AUM has nearly tripled, posting a compound annual growth rate of over 21 percent, supported by sustained net inflows, market performance, increasing digitisation and a broader retail investor base.

According to a recent ICRA report, the industry is expected to cross the Rs 100 trillion AUM mark in the next few years, with projections indicating AUM could reach Rs 300 trillion by 2035, driven by rising participation from Gen Z, women and households in smaller towns, along with a growing preference for long-term investing through SIPs.

Systematic Investment Plans have emerged as a key driver of this growth. As of December 2025, SIP assets rose to Rs 16.63 lakh crore, accounting for 20.7 percent of the industry’s total AUM. Participation from smaller towns has also increased steadily, with over 27 percent of retail mutual fund assets coming from B30 locations in November 2025.

Industry bodies have also been working to strengthen distribution and last-mile access. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has recently completed the first phase of its collaboration with India Post, under which postmen have been trained and onboarded to act as mutual fund distributors, leveraging the postal network’s reach in rural and semi-urban areas and addressing challenges related to access and Know Your Customer (KYC) facilitation.

AMFI chairperson Venkat Chalasani had told Moneycontrol in August 2025 that financial penetration in India remains limited and that the industry needs to go deeper district by district to expand investor participation. As part of this approach, AMFI had identified Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Meghalaya as focus states for additional intensive distributor training, in addition to existing programmes being conducted by AMFI.